An Agreement in Principle (AIP) has been reached with the Official Creditors Committee (OCC) and with the EXIM Bank of China for debt restructuring, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe announced.
The Central Bank Governor further said good faith negotiations are continuing with other commercial creditors to reach an AIP at the earliest.
Dr. Weerasinghe expressed hope for the agreements to be done in the next two months. “We are confident that the debt repayment could be extended for a longer period,” he said.
The Central Bank Governor added that the Government has successfully completed the Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO) operation as part of the effort to bring down the debt trajectory to a sustainable level.
He made the remarks while releasing the “Annual Policy Statement – 2024” at the CBSL Head Office in Colombo yesterday (Jan 10).
As per the “Annual Policy Statement – 2024”, the challenges the Sri Lankan economy and its people experienced during the last few years have been the most arduous in the country’s post-independence history. Policy measures taken thus far helped restore stability, albeit with some significant socioeconomic costs.
The recovery of the Sri Lankan economy in the near to medium term hinges on the successful continuation of the reform agenda as underpinned by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Sri Lanka has made notable progress in carrying out reforms that have helped turn around the negative effects seen in the wake of the economic crisis. Restoring price stability, rebuilding external buffers, ensuring financial system stability, strengthening fiscal consolidation through revenue enhancement and debt restructuring, extending support to the poor and vulnerable and measures to improve governance are notable achievements thus far, the statement added.
The CBSL’s “Annual Policy Statement – 2024”: https://shorturl.at/alMQ6 (NewsWire)